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The Prodigy and the Playmate

Benjamin Wallace writes about the adventures of stock market whiz kid Mark Yagalla in the June issue of Philadelphia magazine. It's a far bigger and grander tale than Wayne Wang's new movie Center of the World which is based on a similar premise.

Yagalla spent millions of dollars on whores including such Playboy Playmates as Tishara Lee Cousino (Playboy's Miss May 1999) and Sandy Bentley, the girlfriend of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner.

Yagalla graduated from high school with $125,000 in the bank. He day traded his net worth well above one million dollars and started taking on investors.

Never comfortable with women, Mark began purchasing prostitutes in high school (his first at a nursery convention in Chicago). He compulsively procured high priced escorts, bringing them with him on yachts and expensive vacations. Bored renting hookers, Yagalla made the rounds of New York strip clubs with $10,000 in his pocket. He burned through the strippers and turned to the internet in 1999 where he found NicisGirls.com. Nici pioneered internet escorting.

For $5000, folks like Yagalla could join Nici's "Millionaire's Club," a harem of porn stars, Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets.

Nici first set him up with a pin-up girl who came to his home and flew with him to Puerto Rico. The four day adventure cost him $28,000 plus airfare.

After that positive experience, Yagalla ordered two new Nici girls a week to his home in Wilmington, paying out $10,000 to $20,000 for their services. Soon Mark began flying regularly to Los Angeles to experience such as Nici specials as porn star Jenna Jameson (for reportedly $25,000 for two days).

Jenna Jameson told Luke that she does not escort.

Yagalla would page through issues of Playboy magazine and order the girls through Nici who had access to almost all Playmates.

Nici set Yagalla up with two Playmates of the Year as well as Tishara, who cost Mark $40,000 for the introductory weekend.

Mark bonded with Nici, the new Heidi Fleiss. They were both young, had grown up ordinary and then discovered certain lucrative skills. Both in their early 20s, they enjoyed talking about Nici's clients and how screwed up Nici's girls were.

Wallace writes: "On a Thursday afternoon that summer [1999], a chestnut-haired, gypsy-eyed, silicone-bosomed young woman named Tishara Lee Cousino...reclined on a gently rocking bed and looked expectantly at Mark Yagalla, whom she'd just met. They were in the Florida Keys, aboard a 125-foot yacht Yagalla had leased for the weekend. "Do you want to do anything with me?" she asked."

Yagalla felt put off by Cousino's bluntness. He wanted a more romantic liason. He said he only wanted her when she wanted him. He wanted her to join his program - where Mark would set her up with a car, a place to live, a credit card and an allowance in exchange for being at his beck-and-call.

Yagalla bought Tishara a black Mercedes SL 500 and a house for $450,000.

In August 1999, Tishara called him on a threeway phone call with fellow Playboy model Sandy Bentley. Sandy was half of the platinum-blond Bentley twins, who were regular girlfriends of Hefner.

On their way to a Cher concert at the MGM, the three stopped at Crazy Horse Too where Sandy used to strip. Sandy said she wished Mark would be her boyfriend too. "We'll be a happy family," Tishara said.

At the strip club, Yagalla balanced on Tishara on one knee and Sandy on the other. When the club's stripper wondered what his secret was, he replied, "I'm f---ing loaded."

The next morning Mark bought Sandy a Mercedes SL 500 for $97,000 and took them to lunch at the Venetian. He told the girls he'd give them each monthly allowances of $20,000 to $25,000 each. Tishara suggested they all get HIV tests.

Mark promised Sandy a house and she found a 6,700 square foot two-story Italian villa that cost $1.7 million.

Unlike Tishara, Sandy did not push to have the house put in her name. She even said was wanted to visit him in Delaware. Just one problem - she didn't want to fly commercial.

When Dempsey arrived in Philadelphia the next weekend, Yagalla picked her up in his red Ferrari. They went back to his home in Delaware and watched Pretty Woman on DVD.

Sandy told Mark that possessions meant nothing to her. Over the next few months, Yagalla gave her a red Ferrari FI355 Spyder, a Range Rover, a black Cadillac Escalade SUV, a pair of fur coats from Bloomingdale's, two Rolexes, a platinum-and-diamond bracelet from Fred Leighton in Vegas and $190,000 worth of jewelry from Venetzia in Vegas. Each time Mark gave her a new gift, Sandy would light up and and clap her hands with joy.

They made an odd couple. Mark stood 5'3 and flabby. He didn't smoke or drink or do drugs or even dance. Sandy was almost 5'9", with hair extensions and breast implants paid for by her pre-Hefner boyfriend, slain Vegas mabster Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein.

One night at the Mandalay Hotel in Vegas, after they'd had sex, Sandy wandered outside their room. Security eventually called Mark to say there was a naked woman outside his door. Sandy had gotten lost.

Sandy, who called herself "Princess," introduced Mark to her twin Mandy who liked to call herself "Superstar." The girls used gangster slang and called each other "nig."

Yagalla and Sandy talked about marriage and having kids. To mollify Tishara, Mark bought her a new house for $850,000. They never ended up having sex.

Mark got new investors from Florida madam Rita Johnson. Sandy undertook a $1.3 million renovation of her $1.7 million house.

Yagalla and Sandy took a vacation to Cancun with Sandy's friends - future Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick and Chicago Bears quarterback Cade McNown. Mandy and Sandy had to call Hefner every day to check in.

Hefner paid Sandy and Mandy $100,000 each - $80,000 more than the going rate - for their nude layout in the May 2000 issue of Playboy. In April 2000, the twins and Hefner appeared throughout the media, from The Daily Show to Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

Wallace writes: "Flanked by the twins in matching hot-pink cowboy hats, Hefner swaggeringly maintained the facade of a relationship, gushing about the power of Viagra. (The heterosexual icon, Sandy had told Yagalla, had trouble finding satisfaction through intercourse; instead, he liked the girls to pleasure each other while he masturbated and watched gay porn.)"

Late in the year 2000, Yagalla's financial empire crashed and the girls left him.

Nici from Nicisgirls.com kept emailing him until April, 2001, telling him about her latest hot girls. Finally Mark told her he wanted nothing more to do with her "harem of whores."

Judge Tells Playboy Centerfold To Get A Job

From NYDailyNews.com, June 5:

A judge offered three strong words yesterday to a knockout blond centerfold and one-time Hugh Hefner pleasure pal: Get a job.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Casey gave the advice to model Sandra Bentley after spurning her "outrageous" request for $6,300 a month in living expenses. Bentley is seeking the stipend from a bank account that's tied up in a messy legal case involving another ex-boyfriend, accused stock swindler Mark Yagalla.

Investors had sued Yagalla after his high-flying $40 million hedge fund collapsed last year amid accusations of fraud. In the legal wrangling that followed, it was revealed that Yagalla had showered Bentley, her twin sister, Amanda, and other family members with $6 million in gifts, including luxury cars, jewelry and furs.

"While the court comprehends the luxurious standard of living that young Ms. Bentley has become accustomed to, it will not permit the investors to finance this level of upkeep," Casey wrote in an eight-page ruling. "Ms. Bentley is 22 and fully employable," he said. "She does not have a mortgage, nor is she responsible for supporting anyone other than herself. It is only appropriate for her to live within her means, and not the means of the defrauded investors."

Bentley met Yagalla in 1999, when he was a multimillionaire whiz kid in New York and she and Amanda were part of Playboy mogul Hefner's harem in Los Angeles. After Yagalla was arrested and a receiver appointed to try to recover money lost by investors, Bentley was evicted from Yagalla's Las Vegas mansion and forced to return his high-priced gifts of love.

In April, she went to court and tried - but failed - to get the receiver to release more than $300,000 in cash and gifts she said she had received from Hefner and brought with her when she moved in with Yagalla.

..........

XXX tells Luke: "The [Ben Wallace] article really isn't about Playboy Playmates escorting. The article is about a guy who embezzled $200 million from his investors. And they're glamorizing this thief as a great stud. And nobody is talking about how this guy paid for these girls with money he stole from people. That's gotten lost. People are more concerned that he allegedly bought Jenna Jameson than that the guy was a thief and ripped people off."

Luke: "Yes, but the human interest angle for guys is buying sex with Playboy Playmates."

XXX: "What's interesting is how a 23-year old kid convinced people to give him that kind of money. Why wouldn't a Playmate escort? Because she got $20,000 to pose naked? She's going to live off that $20,000 for the rest of her life?"

Luke: "But guys worship these women in Playboy. They study them like a Ph.D. thesis. And the realization that these fantasy girls might be available for escorting drives your average guy wild. People can live contentedly with reality and the monotony of monogamy if they aren't being tantalized with images like Tishara Cousino and Sandy and Mandy Bentley available for a price. That rips up the fabric of civilization.

"Civilization has an inherent interest in stigmatizing all forms of sexual release outside of heterosexual marriage. The images in this article and in pornography and salacious radio, TV and film stimulate the male libido to want things they can never get. Men would be better off not feeding off these fantasies.

"People don't care about this guy's white collar crime. But guys care about f---ing Playboy Playmates."

XXX: "That's stupid. Go embezzle $300 million and you too can have a Playboy Playmate."

Luke: "Men worship and hate these women. So they can read Ben Wallace's article and think, 'Oh, they're all whores. I knew she was a slut. And if I gave her $20,000, she'd f--- me too. Blood rushes to their genitals... I mean, I am not immune from this. When I read Wallace's article, it was a huge fantasy trip for me. It was gripping and exciting. Just as a man, the details of the ultimate male adventure. And then you can think, 'All these Playboy Playmates are whores.'"

XXX: "I've always thought Hefner was gay. He just seems very feminine to me. The way he talks and the way he moves. If you watch him in an interview and the way he gets all kissy kissy. He seems like a flaming queer from West Hollywood."

Luke: "Yes. I've seen him in person and he does seem gay."

XXX: "Guys think Hefner is super Joe Cool, but no. He's Super Joe Gay. That's why he loves to be around all those women because deep inside he wants to be a chick. He wants to have titties and blonde hair."

Here's another story on Mark Yagalla.

Here are some highlights from the March 27, 2001 New York Daily News article on Yagalla:

By ROBERT GEARTY and DAVE GOLDINER

A blond Playboy centerfold who cavorted along with her identical twin as Hugh Hefner's pleasure pals may be forced to return $6 million in gifts from her boyfriend, an accused Wall Street swindler.

In a bid to woo curvy model Sandra Bentley, 23-year-old hedge fund honcho Mark Yagalla bought her seven cars, a closetful of furs and a stunning array of glittering jewelry. But his $40 million fund collapsed last year, and investors are demanding that his 22-year-old pinup pal hand back the high-priced tokens of Yagalla's affection.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Casey this month barred Bentley who with sister Mandy frolicked regularly with the Viagra-fueled Hefner at his Playboy Mansion from selling any of the gifts. The model has returned fur coats, several luxury cars and one-of-a-kind gold jewelry while the judge sorts out legal arguments over the lucre.

Yagalla, a former whiz-kid money manager, faces fraud charges stemming from the collapse of the Ashbury Capital fund. He was flying high in July 1999, when he met Sandy Bentley on a date in Las Vegas and later took her to a Cher concert, according to court papers.

Yagalla was already a multimillionaire, with a Park Ave. office and a private helicopter. At the time, Bentley and her twin were sharing a wealth of attention from men who ogled them in the May issue of Playboy that year. Yagalla must have had a good time at the concert, he bought Bentley a $95,000 Mercedes the next day. Soon he was showering her with other high-priced gifts, though officially she was still part of Hef's harem.

During their 14-month relationship, Yagalla gave Bentley Rolex watches and Ferraris and paid for luxury trips around the world for her and her friends, court papers said. But last summer, federal investigators started probing reports of illicit losses at the hedge fund, including claims that Yagalla was diverting investors' money for his personal use.

"What about the jewelry and cars for Sandy?" asked a pal, who was wired and working undercover for the feds. "That's millions of dollars."

"Can I be up-front with you?" replied Yagalla. "I'm selling everything. I'm raising cash to pay people back."

The court case will focus on who really owns the roadsters and bangles - the Playmate or the investors who entrusted Yagalla with their nest eggs. Bentley's lawyer has said the model knew nothing about Yagalla's fiscal hijinks. But Yagalla told the informant that she was in on the shell game, court papers reveal.

Some of the $6 million in gifts that Playboy centerfold Sandy Bentley received from her money man boyfriend Mark Yagalla: Mercedes 500 SL, $95,223.48. Bought day after they met in Las Vegas.
Range Rover Mercedes 600 SL Bentley Azure, $293,500
Cadillac Red Ferrari Black Ferrari, $231,648.50
All-expense-paid vacations to Bahamas, Hawaii, Switzerland and Mexico.
Platinum and diamond necklace from Fred Leighton jewelers in Las Vegas
Three Rolex watches 14-carat white gold bracelet with 13 claw-set round brilliant diamonds
Platinum, yellow gold and diamond necklace
18-carat yellow gold and diamond bracelet with 30 diamonds
18-carat white gold bracelet
18-carat white gold necklace set with one 16-carat, emerald-cut tanzanite, inset with baguette-cut diamonds
Canary yellow diamond ring
Platinum necklace with rubies and diamonds similar to one worn in movie "Pretty Woman," with matching earrings and bracelet $500,000
Chopard watch
Several furs bought at Bloomingdale's Unlimited use of American Express card, with more than $1 million in charges
$470,000 in personal checks
Lived in Las Vegas mansion with $3 million in renovations
$55,000 for twin Mandy Bentley's Los Angeles home payment
$327,888 to pay off loan on Oregon home of older sister Cecilia Bentley
BMW 323 for mother Thelma Bentley.

Mark Yagalla's Porno Connection

6/1/01

Atlanta pornographer Mike South says: "I know the guy. I've spent time with him. I'm in the process of compiling a Lexis Nexis search on him.

"Remember when we were in New York last summer shooting the Howard Stern whackpack video? Charley Frey came up with the great idea that we'd do a change of venue because he had this billionaire friend who was up at Foxwood for the weekend.

"The billionaire friend sent a limo for us. We shot a girl-girl scene in the back of the limo. We went up to Foxwood and Mark put us all up there for the night. Everything we did was on Charley's friend Mark Yagalla. I sat there and watched Mark drop about $60,000 playing blackjack in about 15 minutes. He was a little short blonde guy.

"The girl that was with me at Foxwood, Julie, said, 'That guy is almost a midget. Of course he has to pay girls to f--- him.'

Mike South writes Luke: "After going through all this and doing some studying now I know why Charlie Frey was all hot on going up to Foxwood to hang hang with this guy. Charlie had invited himself and his girl Cleopatra in on the Wackpack gangbang shoot and this trip to Foxwood came outta nowhere.

"Well obviously Charlie knew that Mark would spend big bucks on pussy so he had the idea of pimping out Cleopatra and Alexandra Quinn. Mark took a liking to Cleopatra but Cleo didn't share Marks lust and refused him....Now I know why Charlie was pissed the next day. Charlie saw chance to make a buck."

Ben Wallace Interview

5/30/01

I interviewed the author of "The Prodigy and the Playmate" in the June issue of Philadelphia magazine via email Wednesday morning.

* Did you just swallow everything that Mark Yagalla told you. Did you fact check his allegations?

BW answers: I can't talk about who I did and didn't talk to other than to say I spoke to more than thirty people for the story, as well as relying on court documents and other public and non-public records. And that everything in the article was fact-checked.

* I've encountered considerable skepticism in the escorting business about the veracity of parts of your article. Particularly the allegation that Nici set Mark Yagalla up with Jenna Jameson. Both Nici and Jenna deny this. How are you so sure?

BW writes: Nici has denied so many things to me that she later admitted that, frankly, I don't find her to be at all credible. I also find it interesting how adamantly Nici denies the Jenna aspect while not denying anything else in the article; one wonders if she feels a special obligation to Jenna for some reason.

* What was your overall impression of the sex industry from your time researching it and dealing with it for this article?

BW writes: It's so diverse that it's hard to make generalizations, but I was surprised to learn that people in the biz think there's some meaningful distinction between having sex on camera for money and having sex in a hotel room for money. I'm still trying to puzzle that one out.

* Did your research diminish the way you view Playboy Playmates and Playboy?

BW writes: I'm not a regular reader of Playboy, but I did have an image of it as somehow "wholesome," and learning how many Playmates turn tricks did chip away at that image. And I was surprised to learn the extent to which Hugh Hefner's public image differs from his private life.